Berryhill Baja Grill

I was visiting my former roommate (when we lived together in NYC) Ann in Texas the other weekend, and my only request for food was that of the Tex-Mex variety. Ann was a sport and indulged me all 3 nights. One of those nights we made the short drive to Berryhill Baja Grill in Houston's Montrose Area. I didn't realize at first that it was an order-at-the-counter sort of spot, but I caught on quickly.

We ordered the appetizer sampler platter, 2 frozen ritas, and I ordered one 'original' fish taco, because the few reviews I'd read had raved about the fish tacos there. The girl at the register got us our drinks, gave us a number, and we set out to get our seats, a nice comfy booth toward the back of the place.

I started with the regular margarita, frozen. Normally I'd get a regular, rocks and salt, but you had to go to the separate bar for that, and it was JAM-PACKED that Sunday night. I didn't want to waste any time waiting in line when I could be visiting with Ann, so I went the easy route. This was actually good--not sicky sweet, it packed some seriously tart zing to it. Yum.

There is a big old chips & salsa bar where you serve yourself. You can also get what appeared to be some sort of pickled veggies (carrots, onion, jalapeno) and all the lemon and lime slices you can hope to handle. I poured myself a few plastic mini-cups of the chunky salsa and headed back to our booth.

The sampler platter came with chicken flautas, chicken quesadilla, beef tamales, and generous dollops of sour cream, guacamole, and pico de gallo. The flautas were wider than I'm used to, but still good. The chicken quesadilla was delicious--better than expected. But the tamales? The tamales were outrageously good..and I don't normally care for them! I never, ever order them myself. To me, they usually taste mushy and starchy and just are not my thing. But the tamales Ann & I shared were flat out fantastic. The tender chunks of meat were perfectly seasoned, not too salty, and incredibly satisfying. I was quite surprised. And happy.

The original fish taco is fried, which I realize isn't as healthy as grilled, but this was the one I read about in all the reviews. Sadly, this wasn't my favorite item. It was good, and I was hungry enough to eat the whole thing, but I wish it had a little more zing. The most outstanding part of the whole dish was the fresh tortilla, which had more depth than I expected. A lot of places use their tortilla as a basic food-containing tool--this tortilla stood out on its own. Job well done!

This margarita? A strawberry-lime swirl: delicoso. I didn't even mind the small chunks of strawberry in it!

All in all, a taste-bud pleasing visit--I would definitely give the fish taco another chance, and try the grilled version as well. And the tamales--oh, we will meet again! See you next time, Houston!!!